The world’s largest pilot organisations have formed what they said is "a global coalition to prevent airlines and manufacturers from pushing ahead with plans to remove pilots from the flight deck".
Slamming what they labelled "a profit-driven scheme that poses a significant safety risk", the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), the European Cockpit Association (ECA), and Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) "vowed" they would "counter an aggressive corporate-led lobbying campaign targeting regulators around the world, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)".
“Whether you depart from New York, San Francisco, or Atlanta bound for London, Paris, or Tokyo, a crew of at least two qualified, experienced, trained, and rested airline pilots is at the controls on the flight deck of your plane," the three unions said in a joint statement, citing a 2017 study by NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) they said pointed to "unacceptable safety risks posed by single-pilot flight operations, especially during abnormal events and emergencies".
"Every aspect of your flight—the aircraft, its systems, the regulations, and standards that apply to the flight, and the procedures that pilots follow—is deliberately designed for a team working together on the flight deck,” the unions said, adding that they had they backing of the Associations of Star Alliance Pilots, the Oneworld Cockpit Crew Coalition, and the SkyTeam Pilots Association.
"Despite developments in automation and improved technologies on the flight deck, two pilots at the controls remain the most important safety features of an aircraft", said the unions, while launching a website to publicise their efforts at https://safetystartswith2.com/.